Facebook

Long before I knew the word for it, I was trollin’. But luckily I’m not alone, there have been probably been trolls for as long as we’ve been here as a species. Socrates? Troll. King Henry V? Troll. John Hancock? Troll. Don’t believe me? Look it up!

But trolling isn’t just for basement kids on 4chan or Greek philosophers anymore. You may have recently heard political commentator Bill O’Reilly trying to argue for the existence of god by asking us questions that most 3rd graders know the answers to. You may have seen the bajillion image macros made in the wake of such inquiry. Well if you haven’t, take a peek as O’Reilly interviews President of the American Atheists David Silverman:

(Skip to about 1:50 for goodness)

Two minutes in, the bomb is dropped, and the look on Silverman’s face is priceless. O’Reilly later put out another video where he asks philosophical questions about the nature of the sun’s rise and set, our apparent special place in the universe because we have a moon and Mars doesn’t (Wait, what?), and where the aforementioned moon came from. You can’t explain that.

But hilarious memes and awesome angry David Silverman face aside, I have to be the bearer of bad news: You’ve been trolled.

Think about it, the conditions are perfect. You have the attention of millions of people, you have your liberal, atheist opponent in front of you, and your goal is to make them all rage, while making your oafish, unimaginative supporters hoot and holler behind you. Bill O’Reilly unleashed the perfect storm of internet trolldom. He didn’t just invoke the god of the gaps. He won it. He won God of the Gaps. Don’t ask me how. You can’t explain that.

“B-b-b-but, why he troll us, Maki?”

Bear with me a moment. Now, I may be giving O’Reilly too much credit, but the guy got his master’s degree at Harvard. I find it hard to believe he doesn’t know why the tide comes in and out. I now risk sounding like a conspiracy case saying that O’Reilly trolled atheist/skeptic/rational America for nothing but lulz. You can’t expla– okay I’ll stop.

I cannot believe the man is that stupid. Agree or disagree, these people know what they’re doing, and painting them as idiots only leads you into making uninformed judgment calls. In a way, Bill O’Reilly might be poisoning his own well, but whether he does it or you do it, it’s still a logical fallacy. I feel like there’s a Sun Tzu quote in here somewhere, but the take away is: Don’t feed the trolls.

Brian Dunning of the Skeptoid Podcast has an article called “Sarah Palin is Not Stupid” which touches on this very subject. I high recommend you go read/listen to it. Because part of being a skeptic is not rushing into judgments. Immediately pegging your opponent as a buffoon not only makes for bad logic, but it paints you in poor light as well.

Oh by the way. SISKO WAS BETTER THAN PICARD. PEACE!

This post has been brought to you by Hafnium (Hf) and ”Horta Hears a Who”, which I’m still patting myself on my big nerd back for, even if I did find it elsewhere on Google later.

I wish his response to the “question of the tides” was a bit better, but when you are confronted with a statement that stupid I image a couple synapses stop firing.

Maki

Did you see the look on Silverman’s face? Poor guy stopped breathing for a while there. Plus, O’Reilly is so good at talking over the people he interviews that Silverman could barely get a word in edgewise.

http://www.worstwebcomic.com Scott

Going on the O Reilly factor with a different viewpoint than bill himself is a bit like going into a church and arguing for atheism. A) The pastor/priest isn’t going to let you have the podium and B) the congregation doesn’t actually want to hear your argument. Though I suspect the average pastor/priest is a nicer person

Chuck

It is what we call “The Prototroll”.

http://bradblogspeed.com Brad Goodspeed

Ok, I know I’m not contributing much to the the intellectual discourse here, nor am I endearing myself to my liberal and/or secular brethren, but I just have to say: I kind of like O’Reilly.

There, I said it. Something about the dude just makes me laugh, perhaps because he portrays the cartoon character so well. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t watch his show or agree with a thing he says, but whenever clips like this come up, Ol’ Bill somehow manages to bring a smile to my face.

Maki

No no, I can see it. He reminds me of a crazy uncle. He’s sweet enough, but he says the darndest things sometimes.

http://bradblogspeed.com Brad Goodspeed

Haha. Crazy Uncle, yes. Perhaps the kind you don’t want to be left alone with though…

http://coookingforsix.wordpress.com margiesu

Picard all the way, and he was HOT too! Janeway did nothing for me as a feminist icon as an afterthought.